Before Jim began his demonstration, any visitor would have known that this was to be a special event. In the center of the room, just off from the lathe, was a table displaying Jim's work, including the first bowl he turned fourteen years ago. Also on the table were corners of pieces made in the past, examples of different woods, resource materials, as well as pictures of his shop.

McPhail began the morning by presenting a bit of his history. He is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and editor of CMW's newsletter, The Mountain Woodturner. He began his current career in 1995 after a thirty year career as a graphic designer in Chicago and Winston-Salem. In 1993, he was downsized from a major corporation and came to the Asheville area to pursue his passion of woodturning.

In 1988 he purchased a used Sears lathe, to be replaced by a Delta lathe which has just been replaced by a Oneway 2436. He's still getting used to the Oneway but quickly admits, "It's magic".

Before Jim talked about designing and turning his layered bowls, he spent some time talking about marketing, working with galleries, craft shows and pricing. He talked about consignment versus wholesale, up front agreements and 'chasing the money'. Many galleries want to work on a wholesale basis with a 50/50 split of the listed piece price. The other alternative is a consignment agreement where the artist receives a 60/40 split. The benefit to the artist is the added revenue per piece and the benefit to the gallery is not having to shell out dollars before a piece is sold. On the negative side, Jim has to track (actually it's done by Pat, his better half) all the pieces via an inventory program, keep tabs on the pieces until sold, and sometimes hassle with a gallery owner to get paid. Let it be known that there's never a problem with wholesale or consignment with any of the Southern Highland Craft Guild shops. They are professionals working with professionals!

Setting prices was a topic that generated a lot of questions from the audience. Most turners want to make money selling their product. They don't want to under-price or over-price their work. Jim said that setting his price has been something of a trial and error process. The public will pay just so much for an object and they don't really think or care about how long it takes to make the object. Marketing of your product was another topic that drew many questions. Jim designs and produces his own brochures, artist profiles, cards and various promotional materials for galleries and the shows.

After talking about the business side of turning, he moved into the production of his small layered bowls. He has a four step approach: 1) design, 2) prepare and glue, 3) turn, 4) finish the piece.

Jim talked about the design of the bowl, speaking about bowls that have a 'masculine' feel and others that have colors (like pink ivory) that provide a more 'feminine' feel.

Jim discussed various approaches to the design concept of his layered bowls. His designs have a combination of veneer and wood that range from nine layers to as many as 21 layers.

Gluing up the bowl is the tedious part of creating layered bowls. Layers are corrected for flatness using a 6" belt sander. He uses thick CA to ensure uniformity and the elimination of voids. Jim applies the glue in a circular motion, sprays the opposite side with accelerator and the pieces are quickly secured. He has found that it is more efficient to glue up as many as 18 to 20 bowls at a time.

Jim makes up batches of waste blocks that he re-faces and uses for many bowls. The blocks have reference lines and a numbering system that assist in repeatability for use of the waste block. When Jim got his Oneway lathe, he started using a Oneway Stronghold chuck with its mechanical advantage internal gearing and grip-type teeth.

Due to "fake" hips, Jim sits on a high stool to turn and has a homemade arm rest. Standing for long periods of time is not a consideration so this set-up works well and keeps him turning for 6 days a week, 8 hours a day. He hopes to turn 350 bowls this year.

Jim shapes the outside of the bowl first, including most of the sanding and a sealer coat of thin CA glue. The inside is turned using a combination of small bowl gouges and the often maligned scraper.

The finishing process is the part of his presentation that attracted a great deal of interest. His bowls are very tactile and the method he uses to get there is somewhat lengthy.

Jim sands progressively, using sandpaper grits 180, 240, 320 and 400. After the 240 grit, he coats the piece with one or more layers of thin CA glue, depending on the softness of the woods. He then polishes with Micromesh abrasive, grits 1500, 2400, 3600 and 6000. (After the 6000, the piece almost looks is if it had been lacquered.) He then coats the bowl with a single layer of gloss Deft lacquer.

Jim turns the bottom of the bowl using a reverse turning jig based on the one shown in the AAW journal from June 1994.

McPhail closed out his demonstration with an overview of shapes and designs that have worked very well for him. Different woods, their natural color, features of the wood all dictate his decision on what shape to use.

Whether the bowls are 1/4 inch or as large as 5-1/4 inches in diameter, there is little question that "less is more".

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